Can Fevertree shares continue to rise? March 14, 2018 Fevertree Drinks shares were looking distinctly flat today, falling almost 5 per cent in morning trading after it issued its full-year numbers. We already knew that sales were up an impressive 66 per cent year-on-year, as this was revealed in its January trading update. Operating profits also came in about 1.4 per cent ahead of [...]
The big winners from an Aramco listing will be the bankers March 13, 2018 Britain’s bankers and City advisors are very excited about the mooted flotation of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco. The potential fees – and therefore bonuses – generated are likely to be astonishing. It will be trebles all round, as they say in Private Eye. However, as an investment proposition there may be less to [...]
Investors ignore disruptive weather at their peril March 5, 2018 The "Beast from the East" closed schools, kept trains in their sidings and hit Britain's productivity. But can inclement weather move the stock market by affecting investors' minds? Findings of a research project published in the Journal of Accounting Research in 2015 concluded that financial analysts respond more slowly to the implications of earnings announcements [...]
Last Week in the City: Trump threatens trade war March 2, 2018 This week US President Donald Trump threatened a trade war, a number of famous high street names, including Toys R Us and Maplin, got into serious trading trouble and upbeat assessments of the US economy from central bankers helped the US dollar to rally, reversing its recent trend. The FTSE 100 fell 0.2 per cent [...]
Property gloom is not really justified February 28, 2018 The amount of construction going on in the City of London makes the British capital look like a boomtown. Yet, following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, the market has been distinctly downbeat on the value of London office space and the share prices of London-listed real estate investment trusts (REITs) has collapsed. [...]
Profit from Theresa May’s war on plastic February 27, 2018 Theresa May recently declared a “war on plastic” and businesses such as Costa Coffee, Wagamama, Pizza Express and Leon have said they will phase out the use of plastic straws. California is considering banning them completely. Frozen food retailer Iceland has also pledged to be free of plastic packaging in its own-brand products within five [...]
Commodity outlook in the Year of the Dog February 23, 2018 We are now in the Chinese Year of the Dog. With China being the main driver of commodity markets – and Britain’s blue chip miners enjoying a long bull run – what is the outlook for commodities for the rest of the year? China’s seemingly insatiable desire for commodities will slow. The country is seeking [...]
The outlook for the oil price is bearish February 22, 2018 Since hitting a three year high in the last week of January, the oil price has been volatile. Investors were getting very bullish on the oil price, with hedge funds and other money managers building up record net-long bets on oil futures, a run-up that only started to fall back recently. While the Saudis have [...]
Should shareholders shudder as Rio Tinto mentions M&A? February 20, 2018 During the last mining boom, chief executives of virtually all of the major resource stocks listed in the UK blew shareholders’ money on over-priced acquisitions. These purchases appeared to be more about ego and empire building than a sensible, prudent growth strategy. The M&A (mergers and acquisitions) splurge led to billions of dollars in write [...]
Beware the cryptocurrency hype February 20, 2018 Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, as philosopher George Santayana famously wrote. What’s happening in markets today is a stark reminder of the dot-com days at the end of the last millennium, when company valuations rocketed at the mere mention of internet-related buzzwords. Fortunes were made and lost in relative [...]
